Centre for Internet and Society

University of Mysore Re-releases Kannada Vishwakosha (Encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons Free License

pavanaja — 2014-07-24T07:03:45Z

The University of Mysore and the Centre for Internet and Society co-organized the Open Knowledge Day in Mysore on July 15, 2014. On this occasion Mysore University released six volumes of Kannada Vishwakosha under the Creative Commons (CC) license.

Kannada Vishwakosha brought out by the University of Mysore can easily be termed as the best encyclopaedia in Kannada. It has been modelled after the famous Britannica encyclopaedia. Mysore University Vishwakosha has 14 volumes having a total of 13802 pages. The very first volume was brought out in the year 1969 and the final volume was released in 2004. Many famous Kannada authors, scientists, academicians and stalwarts from other fields have worked on creating this encyclopaedia. The print volumes of the first version of the encyclopaedia are out of stock now. Recently UoM has started revising and reprinting the encyclopaedia. So far 4 volumes have been revised, enhanced and published.

UoM believes in Open Access to Knowledge. It has put up the research outputs from its departments online for free access to the public. UoM has done these as a subscriber to the idea of Budapest Open Access Initiative. The Open Access Institutional Repository, of UoM, covers scholarly publications covering journal articles, conference papers, books, book reviews, presentations, reports and patents ever since UoM was established in 1916. Extending the philosophy of open knowledge to the Kannada encyclopaedia published by UoM becomes a natural extension. UoM is in the verge of celebrating its centenary soon and has taken many initiatives in that direction.

CIS-A2K has been in negotiations with UoM towards releasing of its high quality Kannada Vishwakosha (Kannada Encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons license. CIS and UoM signed a MoU on February 22, 2014. Here is the relevant extract from the MoU: "They will work together to digitize all encyclopaedic publications for which the copyright is owned by UoM, and re-release them under the Creative Common license (CC-BY-SA 3.0). The digitized content will be made available for everyone through free content distribution platforms like Wikipedia and Wikisource. The digitization will be done employing the global standard Unicode so that the content has longevity, is universally portable and is easily searchable. Both parties have joined hands to undertake the above in order to enhance digital literacy in the Kannada language and facilitate collaborative production and free dissemination of knowledge in Kannada to the students, academics, researchers and the wider public. The parties also believe that by reintroducing the knowledge in digital and openly accessible formats could significantly enhance the production of knowledge in Kannada and give a new lease of life to Kannada language in the digital era. The parties will co-design and jointly implement relevant programmes to achieve this objective." As part of this MoU, UoM agreed to release the first six volumes of Kannada Vishwakosha under CC.

Volume numbers 1, 2, 4 and 6 of Kannada Vishwakosha of UoM have been revised and published recently. A project page has been created in Kannada Wikipedia for this project. Kannada Wikipedians joined hands in the project. The project involved extracting the text from the soft copies of the files, converting them into Unicode, extracting articles from these files and uploading them to Kannada Wikisource.

A team of interns from Christ University had a major role to play in this development. These were students from the Wikipedia in Education Program that was conducted in Christ University during the academic period of 2013-14. These students took active part in the current project and uploaded about 1200 articles so far (till July 21, 2014).

Media Coverage

The event attracted very good media coverage. Leading English and Kannada dailies like Andolana Kannada, City Today, Deccan Herald, Hosa Diganta, Kannada Jana Mana, Kannada Prabha, Rajya Dharma, Samyukta Karnataka, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Udayavani, Vijaya Karnataka, and Vijaya Vani published about this. Scanned versions of the published articles can be downloaded here.

Other Links:

UoM Kannada Vishwakosha conversion project page in Kannada Wikipedia - http://bit.ly/mysoreunivwp
Articles from UoM Kannada Vishwakosha in Kannada Wikisource - http://bit.ly/mysoreuniv
Category UoM Kannada Vishwakosha in Kannada Wikisource - http://bit.ly/mysoreunivws
For pictures from the Open Knowledge Day event in Mysore - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mysore_University_Open_Knowledge_Day

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/university-of-mysore-releases-kannada-vishwakosha-under-cc-license

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ବିକାଶର ରାସ୍ତା

subha — 2014-07-23T14:46:26Z

The column was published in Odia newspaper The Sambad's editorial. It shows a comparative analysis of Odia language with other languages — both linguistic and usability in digital platforms. The article also emphasizes on various aspects that need advancements.

The text below is the unedited version which was submitted for publication. For an edited version published by the Sambad on July 21, 2014, click here. Download the PDF here.

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ତାହାର ୨,୫୦୦ ବର୍ଷର ଭାଷାଭିତ୍ତିକ ନଥିକରଣ ଓ ଆହୁରି କେଇ ହଜାର ବର୍ଷର ନଥିକରଣ ହୋଇନଥିବା ଇତିହାସ, ବାକି ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କଠାରୁ ଖୁବ କମ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ ହୋଇ ଏକ ନିଆରା ଭାଷା ଭାବେ ନିଜେ କେତେ ହଜାର ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ବଢ଼ିଥିବାର ପ୍ରମାଣକୁ ଆଧାର କରି, ଏହି ବର୍ଷ ଫେବ୍ରୁଆରି ୨୦ ତାରିଖରେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ପାଇଲା । ଏଠାରେ ଗୋଟିଏ ବିଷୟ ବାରିହୋଇପଡ଼େ, ତାହା ହେଲା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିଶ୍ଚିତ ଭାବେ ବାକି ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ଠାରୁ ପୁରୁଣା ଓ ଅଧିକ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ । ଅଧିକନ୍ତୁ ଅନେକ ଭାଷାରେ ଯେଉଁଠି କାଳ୍ପନିକ କବିମାନଙ୍କ ରଚନାର ଆଧାର ଅତୀତରେ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଚାପ ବଳରେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ହାସଲ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା ସେଠାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ରାଜ୍ୟ ଓ କେନ୍ଦ୍ରରେ ଭିନ୍ନ ଭିନ୍ନ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଦଳ ଥିବା ସତ୍ତ୍ବେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ବୋଲି ମାନିବାକୁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ଭାଷା କମିଟି ବାଧ୍ୟ ହେଲା । ତେବେ ଅନ୍ୟଭାଷାକୁ ଆଢ଼ୁଆଳ କରି ନିଜ ଭାଷା ଆଡ଼େ ଆମେ ନିରେଖି ଦେଖିଲେ ଏହାର ଏହି ଲମ୍ବା ଇତିହାସକୁ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ାଇବା ପାଇଁ ବର୍ତମାନ ପାଇଁ କିଛି ବିରାଟ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ମଧ୍ୟ ଆମେ ଆଖିରେ ପଡ଼ୁଛି । ଭାଷାଟିଏ କେବଳ ପୁରାତନ ହେଲେ ଚଳିବ ନାହିଁ । ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ଯେତେ ଅଧିକ, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା ଯେତେ ଜନାଦୃତ, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା ଜଗତରେ ବାକି ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ସହ କାନ୍ଧରେ କାନ୍ଧ ମିଳାଇ ଚାଲିଛି, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଯେତେ ବ୍ୟବହାରଯୋଗ୍ୟ, ସେ ଭାଷା ସେତେ ଉନ୍ନତ । ଯଦି ମାଣ୍ଡାରିନ ଭାଷାଭାଷୀ ଲୋକେ ନିଜ ଭୂମିର ସବୁତକ ଥାନରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷା ଆଉ ଲିପିର ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ କଡ଼ାକଡ଼ି କରିନଥାନ୍ତେ, ଯଦି ଜର୍ମାନଭାଷୀଏ "ୟେସ ସାର" କରି ଇଂରାଜୀକୁ ସହଜରେ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରିନେଇଥାନ୍ତେ, ତେବେ ସେ ଭାଷାସବୁ ଯେତେ ପୁରାତନ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ବି, କଦାପି ସେ ଭାଷାରେ ଆଜି 'ସି' ଆଉ 'ଜାଭା' ଆଦି କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଲାଙ୍ଗୁଏଜ ତିଆରି ହୋଇନଥାନ୍ତା । ଥୋକେ ଯେଉଁ କେଇ ବର୍ଷ ତଳେ ପ୍ରଚାର ଆରମ୍ଭ କଲେ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ହେଉଛି କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ସବୁଠାରୁ ଅଧିକ ବ୍ୟବହାରଯୋଗ୍ୟ ସେ ଫସର ଫାଟିଗଲା କେବଳ ତାହାର ସାଧାରଣ ଜନଜୀବନରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ନ ଥିବାରୁ । ଭାଷାଟିର ବ୍ୟବହାର ନ ହୋଇ ଏହା ଯେ କେବଳ ସାଂସ୍କ୍ରିଟ ଟୁଲ ଆଉ କିଛି ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ ଏବଂ ପୂଜାପଟଳ କରି ଜୀବିକା ବଞ୍ଚାଉଥିବା ଯଜମାନଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଅଧୁନା ବଞ୍ଚିଛି ତାହା ଜଳ ଜଳ ଦିଶୁଛି । ଏଇ ନିକଟରେ, ୨୦୧୦ରେ, ଆଣ୍ଡାମାନର "ବୋ" ଭାଷାଟି ସମାଧି ନେଲା ସେ ଭାଷା କହୁଥିବା ଶେଷ ମାନବୀ ବୋଆ ସିନିଅରଙ୍କ ଦେହାନ୍ତ ସାଙ୍ଗରେ । ଭାଷା ବ୍ୟବହାର ଅଭାବର ଗରଳ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ଏମିତି ଅନେକ ଭାଷାକୁ ମାରୁଛି ଯେଉଁଠି ସେ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କର ବିଶାଳ ଇତିହାସ କିମ୍ବା ପୁରାତନପଣ ତାହାକୁ ବଞ୍ଚାଇ ପାରୁନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଇଚ୍ଛାଶକ୍ତିର ଇନ୍ଧନରେ ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ନାହିଁରୁ ଯେ କାହିଁ ହୋଇଛନ୍ତି ତାହା ଆମେ ଅସ୍ୱୀକାର କରିପାରିବା ନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ଏବେ ବେଳ ଆସିଛି ଅନୁଶୀଳନ କରିବାର କି, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶ ଓ ଜଗତର ବାକି ଅଧିକ ବ୍ୟବହୃତ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ସମକକ୍ଷ ହେବା ପାଇଁ ପ୍ରତିବନ୍ଧକ କଣ ରହିଛି ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଯେଉଁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ପାଇବା ପଛରେ ତାହାର ସବୁଠାରୁ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା କାରଣଟି ହେଉଛି ଏହାର ନିଆରାପଣ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଏ ଦୀର୍ଘ କେଇ ବର୍ଷର ଇତିହାସରେ ଯେ ଆଉ ଭାଷାଠାରୁ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ ହୋଇନାହିଁ ତା' ନୁହେଁ । ହେଲେ, ସେ ପ୍ରଭାବ ନଗଣ୍ୟ । ବରଂ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିଜର ପଡ଼ୋଶୀ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କୁ ତାଠାରୁ କେଇଗୁଣା ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ କରିଛି ଯାହା ବୋଧେ ଆମ ଇତିହାସରେ ଲିଖିତ ହୋଇନାହିଁ ସ୍ପଷ୍ଟ ଭାବରେ । ହେଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ସୂତା ଲମ୍ବିଛି କଳିଙ୍ଗର ସେଇ କାଳକୁ ଯେଉଁକାଳେ ଏହାର ସାଧବ ପୁଅ ସମଗ୍ର ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆରେ ନିଜର ପତିଆରା ଜାରି ରଖିବାରେ ସଫଳ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ଏକ ବଣିକ ଜାତି ଭାବରେ । କେବଳ ପାଟଲୁଗା ନୁହେଁ, ଏଠାର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି, ପାର୍ବଣଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ମନ୍ଦିର ଓ ସଉଧ ନିର୍ମାଣ ଶୈଳୀଯାଏ ଦରିଆପାରି ଦେଶମାନଙ୍କୁ ଯାଇଥିଲା । ଆଜି ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆର ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମୁଣ୍ଡିଆ ମାରିବା ହେଉ କି ସେମାନଙ୍କ ଖାଦ୍ୟର ଚାଉଳ ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହେଉ କିମ୍ବା ଜଗତର ବିଶାଳତମ ମନ୍ଦିର ଆଙ୍ଗକ ଓରର ସ୍ଥାପତ୍ୟରେ କଳିଙ୍ଗ ମନ୍ଦିରର ପରିପାଟୀ ହେଉ, ଏସବୁ ଆମକୁ ନିଜର ନିଜର ଲାଗିବା ପଛରେ ରହିଛି ଆମ ବଡ଼ବଡ଼ୁଆଙ୍କ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧଟି । ଅନେକ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆର ଭାଷାରେ କ୍ଳିଙ୍ଗ, କେଲିଙ୍ଗ ଆଦି ଶବ୍ଦର ବ୍ୟବହାର ତ ଆମ ଭୂଖଣ୍ଡର ଏ ଦେଶସମୂହଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଅବଦାନର ଆଉ ଏକ ନମୂନା । ତେବେ ଆମର ପୂର୍ବପୁରୁଷ ଯେଉଁ ସବୁ ଦେଶରେ ନିଜର ଉପନିବେଶମାନ ଗଢ଼ିଥିଲେ, ସେଠାର ଭାଷାସବୁ ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୁ ପିନ୍ଧାଲୁଗା କରି ଜଡ଼ାଇ ଧରିବା ବଳରେ ଆଜିର ଯୁବସମାଜ ସେଠାରେ ମୋବାଇଲରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ଗେମ ଖେଳୁଛନ୍ତି । ଆଜି ବି ଇଉରୋପ ଆଉ ଆମେରିକା ସେମାନଙ୍କୁ ଭେଦ କରିବାରେ ବିଫଳ ହୋଇଛନ୍ତି ସେମାନଙ୍କର ଏହି ଭାଷା ଆଉ ନିଜ ଚଳଣିର ଦମ୍ଭିଲା ନିଅଁଟି ଲାଗି । ଭାଷା ଯେ କେବଳ କଥା ବାର୍ତ୍ତାର ଏକ ମାଧ୍ୟମ ଆଉ ତାର ଆମ ଜୀବନର ଆଉ କିଛି ଅବଦାନ ନାହିଁ ଏ କଥା ଭାବିବାଠୁ ବଳି ଆଉ ଭୁଲ ନାହିଁ । ପର୍ତ୍ତୁଗୀଜ ପାଦ୍ରିଏ ଗୋଆରେ ପାଦ ଥାପୁ ଥାପୁ ପ୍ରଥମେ ଯାହା ଶିଖିଲେ ତାହା ହେଲା କୋଙ୍କଣୀ ଭାଷା । ସେଥିଲାଗି ସେ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରଥମ ଛପା ଗ୍ରନ୍ଥଟି ହେଲା ବାଇବେଲର ଟେଷ୍ଟାମେଣ୍ଟ । ଏପରିକି ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଆଉ ଅନେକ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରଥମ ଛପା ବହି ବାଇବେଲ । କାରଣ ହେଉଛି ଭାଷା ହେଉଛି ଏକ ଜନଜାତିର ଦାଣ୍ଡଦୁଆର । ସେ କବାଟ ଫିଟିଲେ ଯାଇ ଘର ଭିତରକୁ ଯିବା ସମ୍ଭବ । ଏ କଥାଟି ଭଲା ଆମ ନେତାଗଣ ଥରେ ଚେତିଥାନ୍ତେ! ରାଜନୈତିକ ପୃଷ୍ଠପୋଷକତାରେ ଆମ ଭାଷା କାହିଁ କେତେ ଉଚ୍ଚକୁ ଉଠିଥାନ୍ତା! ତେବେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା କରିବାକୁ ଯେଉଁ ମୂଳ କେତୋଟି ରୂହ ନିହାତି ଲୋଡ଼ା ସେ ଯଥାକ୍ରମେ ହେବେ ଭାଷାକୁ ସରକାରୀ ସ୍ତରରେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରି ସରକାରୀ ନଥିକରଣରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର, ଭାଷାର ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ ବ୍ୟାପକ କରିବାର ସାଧନ ତିଆରି ଓ ଶେଷରେ ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଅଧିକ ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ଭାଷା ଶିକ୍ଷା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଅଧ୍ୟୟନ କେନ୍ଦ୍ରର ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠା ସହିତ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ସ୍ନାତକମାନଙ୍କ ଲାଗି ଅଧିକ ସ୍ୱଚ୍ଛଳ ଚାକିରୀ ।

ପ୍ରଥମ କଥାଟି ବିଚାରିବା । ଏକ ବିଡ଼ମ୍ବିତ ବେଳାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବଦଳରେ ଇଂରାଜୀରେ ନଥିକରଣ କରାଯିବାର ଏକ ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସରକାରଙ୍କ ତରଫରୁ ନିଆଯାଇଥିଲା । ଏତେସଂଖ୍ୟକ ସଭ୍ୟଙ୍କ ଉପସ୍ଥିତିରେ କିପରି ଯେ ସେତେବେଳେ ଏହା ବିଧାନସଭାରେ ଗୃହୀତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ତାହା ନିଶ୍ଚେ ଆଲୋଚନାର ବିଷୟ, କିନ୍ତୁ ତା' ଠାରୁ ଆହୁରି ଗୁରୁ ବିଷୟ ହେଉଛି ସେଇ ନିୟମର ସଂଶୋଧନ କରି ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ସମସ୍ତ ସରକାରୀ ନଥିକରଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପିରେ କରିବା ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରିବା । ଆମ ଦେଶର ଅନେକ ରାଜ୍ୟରେ ସରକାରୀ କାମ ପାଇଁ ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଭାବେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ । ତାମିଲନାଡ଼ୁ ଭଳି ରାଜ୍ୟରେ ଏହା ଏତେ ଅଧିକ କଡ଼ାକଡ଼ି ଯେ ଅଣ-ତାମିଳ ଆଇଏସ ଅଫିସରମାନେ ମଧ୍ୟ ତାମିଳ ବୁଝିବା, ପଢ଼ିବା ଓ ଲେଖିବାକୁ ବାଧ୍ୟ । ସରକାରୀ ଭାବେ ନିୟମଟିଏ ପ୍ରଣୟନ ହେଲେ ତାହା ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ କେତେ ଯେ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରେ ତାହା ଏଥିରେ ସହଜରେ ଅନୁମିତ ହେବ । ସରକାରୀ କଳର ନଥିକରଣ ଯଥା: ଅଫିସରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖାପଢ଼ା, କିରାଣୀମାନଙ୍କ ଖାତାଆଦିରେ ଲେଖାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ବ୍ୟବହାର, କୋର୍ଟ-କଚେରିରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ବିଚାର-କାରବାର, ସ୍କୁଲ କଲେଜରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ରଚନାଲେଖାଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ନିୟମିତ ନାନାଦି ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧିତ ପ୍ରତିଯୋଗିତା ଆଦିର ଆୟୋଜନ କଲେ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ସମସ୍ତ ସ୍ତରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ବ୍ୟବହାର ବଢ଼ିବ । ସାଇନବୋର୍ଡ଼ରେ ଲିପିର ବ୍ୟବହାର ବାବଦରେ କର୍ଣ୍ଣାଟକର ଉଦାହରଣ ନିଆଯାଇପାରେ । ଏହା ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରାଯିବା ଫଳରେ ଜଣେ ସାଧାରଣ ଅଣ-କର୍ଣ୍ଣାଟକର ଲୋକକୁ କନ୍ନଡ଼ ପଦେ ଶିଖିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ୁଛି । କିନ୍ତୁ ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ ନଥିବା ହେତୁ ବାହାରୁ ଲୋକଟିଏ ଆସିଲେ ହିନ୍ଦୀରେ କହିଲେ ଚଳିଯାଉଛି । ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ସଚେନତତା ତିଆରି କରି ଯାହା ପୁରୁଷେରେ ହୁଏତ ସମ୍ଭବ ହେବନାହିଁ ତାହା ବରଷେରୁ ଉଣା ସମୟରେ ସରକାରୀ ନିୟମଟିଏ ତିଆରି କରି ହୋଇପାରିବ । ଯଦି ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରୁର ମିଠାଦୋକାନୀଟିଏ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପିରେ "ଓଡ଼ିଶା ପ୍ରସିଦ୍ଧ ପାହାଳ ରସଗୋଲା" ଲେଖିପାରୁଛି ତାହେଲେ ନାମୀ ଦାମୀ ବ୍ରାଣ୍ଡର ଦୋକାନରେ ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସାଇନ ବୋର୍ଡ଼ କାହିଁକି ରହିବ ନାହିଁ? ଅଧିକନ୍ତୁ ସରକାରୀ ୱେବସାଇଟର ତଥ୍ୟସମୂହ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ରଖିବା ଜରୁରୀ । ଯଦି ସରକାର ଏଥିରେ କିଛି ଅର୍ଥ ଖର୍ଚ୍ଚ କରି କରନ୍ତି ତାହେଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ ତାହାର ମୂଲ୍ୟ ଅଛି, କାରଣ ଯଦି ସାଧାରଣ ନାଗରିକ ବାପୁଡ଼ାଟି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ତଥ୍ୟ ପାଇପାରିଲା ତାହାଠାରୁ ବଳି ବଡ଼ ଜିନିଷ ଆଉ କିଛି ଅଛି? ଯେଉଁ ଇ-ଗଭର୍ଣ୍ଣାସ ବାବଦରେ କୋଟି କୋଟି ଖର୍ଚ୍ଚ ହୋଇଛି ଆଉ ହେଉଛି ତାହାର ମୂଳ ସୋପାନ ହେଉ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ସମସ୍ତ ଅନୁବାଦ ଆଦି କରି ୱେବସାଇଟ ଓ ତଥ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଇବା ।

ଗଳିକନ୍ଦିରେ ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ନେଇ ନାଟକ ଆଦିର ପରିବେଷଣ ଏକ ବିଷୟକୁ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସାମନାକୁ ଆଣିବାର ଆଉ ଏକ ବିରାଟ ମାଧ୍ୟମ । ଦିଲ୍ଲୀ ଗଣଧର୍ଷଣ ପରେ ସେଠାରେ ସଙ୍ଗଠନ ଓ ଜନସାଧାରଣ ଏତେ ସଂଖ୍ୟାରେ ସଚେତନତାମୂଳକ ନାଟକମାନ ପରିବେଷଣ କରିଥିଲେ ଯେ ତାହା ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମନରେ ଲମ୍ବା ସମୟ ପାଇଁ ଗଭୀର ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇବାରେ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିଥିଲା । ଜନଗଣଙ୍କ ପାଖରେ ଆଉ ଏକ ଜିନିଷ ବହୁ ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇଥାଏ । ତାହା ହେଲା ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ବା ଆଡ଼ । ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଦେଖି କେତେଜଣ ସାବୁନ ବା ସାମ୍ପୁ କିଣନ୍ତି ତାହା ମାର୍କେଟ ସର୍ଭେ କରୁଥିବା କମ୍ପାନି କହିପାରିବେ । ହେଲେ ସେଥିରେ ଯୁବକଯୁବତୀଙ୍କ ଭଳି ହରେକ ରକମର ପୋଷାକ ପିନ୍ଧିବା କିବା ସେମାନଙ୍କ ଭଳି ଚଷମାଟେ ମୁଣ୍ଡରେ ଟେକି ଲଗାଇବା ଯେ ଆମ ଅଜାଣତରେ ଆମ ଭିତରକୁ ଆସୁଛି ଏ କଥା ଲେଖକ ହଲପ କରି କହିପାରେ । ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଯାହା ଟିଭିରେ ଦେଖିବାକୁ ମିଳୁଛି ସେସବୁର ଭାଷାର ନିମ୍ନ ମାନ ଦେଖିଲେ ଲାଗେ ଯେ ଏ ଚାଲୁ ଭାଷା ଆଉ କିଛି କାଳ ଚାଲିଲେ ଆମ ଭାଷାର ଥାଳରୁ ଅକ୍ଷରମାନ ବି ଚଳୁ ହେଇଯିବ । ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସରକାରଙ୍କ ସଂସ୍କୃତି ବିଭାଗ ତରଫରୁ କିଛି ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ତିଆରି କରାଯାଇପାରନ୍ତା ଆଉ ଭାଷା ଶିକ୍ଷାରେ ଯୁଗଟିଏ ଆଣନ୍ତା ଗଣଶିକ୍ଷା ବିଭାଗ ତରଫରୁ କିଛି ମାଗଣା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ଲାଭ ପାଇଁ ସହଜ ଶିକ୍ଷଣ ଓ ତା'ର ମାଗଣା ବିତରଣ । ଚତୁର ବିନୋଦଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ଅବୋଲକରା କାହାଣୀ ଯାଏ ଆମ ସାହିତ୍ୟର ନାନାଦି ଜଣାଶୁଣା ସାହିତ୍ୟକୁ ଆନିମେସନ ଫିଲ୍ମ, ଗ୍ରାଫିକ ନଭେଲ, କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଗେମ ଆଦି ତିଆରି କରାଗଲେ ଆଜିର ପିଲାଠୁ ବୁଢ଼ାଙ୍କର ଅବଚେତନରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଓ ବିଶେଷ କରି ଶୁଦ୍ଧ ଭାଷା ଆବୋରି ବସିବ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ହେଉଛି ସେହି ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ଭିତରୁ ଗୋଟିଏ ଯେଉଁଥିରେ ଖୁବ କମ ଲେଖାଲେଖି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । କାରଣ ହେଉଛି ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ଖବରକାଗଜଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ସରକାରୀ ପ୍ରକାଶନ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟନ୍ତ ଶହେରୁ ଶହେ ପ୍ରକାଶନ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ପାଇଁ ଏକ ଅଣ-ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ରେ ଫଣ୍ଟ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିଥାନ୍ତି । ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ ଏକ ବିଶ୍ୱଶ୍ରେଣୀର ମାନକ ଯାହା ଉଣାଅଧିକେ ସମସ୍ତ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଫଣ୍ଟଟିଏ ଡାଉନଲୋଡ଼ ନ କରି ବି ପଢ଼ିହୁଏ । କିନ୍ତୁ ଅଣ-ଇଉନୋକୋଡ଼ରେ ଲେଖା ହୋଇଥିବା ପାଠ ପଢ଼ିବା ପାଇଁ ଫଣ୍ଟଟିଏ ଡାଉନଲୋଡ଼ କରିବାକୁ ପଡ଼େ ଯାହା ଏକ ପାଠକ ପାଇଁ କେବଳ କଷ୍ଟକର ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ କପିରାଇଟର ମଧ୍ୟ ଉଲ୍ଲଙ୍ଘନ । ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ ଫଣ୍ଟରେ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ଆଗରୁ ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ ହୋଇ ଆସୁଥିବାରୁ ସେଥିରେ ସହଜରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଲେଖାପଢ଼ା ହୋଇପାରେ । ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଅଧୁନା ସବୁଠାରୁ ଅଧିକ କଣ୍ଟେଣ୍ଟ ଥିବା ୱେବସାଇଟ ହେଉଛି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ । ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଲାଇସେନ୍ସରେ or.wikipedia.org ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏହି ଅନଲାଇନ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷରେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗମାନ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଦ୍ୱାରା ତିଆରି ହୋଇ ସମ୍ପାଦିତ ହୋଇଥାଏ । ଯେଉଁ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଅନେକେ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନ ଉଠାନ୍ତି କାହିଁକି ଜଣେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକକୁ ସମ୍ପାଦନାର ଗୁରୁଭାର ଦିଆଯିବ ସେଠାରେ ଏକ ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥିତ ପରିବେଶରେ ଆଗରୁ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ଲେଖାମାନଙ୍କର ଆଧାରରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଲେଖା ହେଉଛି ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ନଥିବାର ଯେଉଁ ବିଶାଳ ଫାଙ୍କଟି ରହିଛି ତାହା କିଛି ପରିମାଣରେ ଭରୁଛି । ଏହା ପାଖାପାଖି ସମସ୍ତ ଭୁଲଭଟକା ଓ ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିଗତ ମତରୁ ଲେଖାଗୁଡ଼ିକୁ ଦୂରରେ ରଖିଥାଏ । ତେବେ ଏହି ଭଳି ସାମୁହିକ ଉଦ୍ୟମ କେବଳ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଅବଦାନ ବଳରେ ହିଁ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ିବ, ତୁଚ୍ଛା ସମାଲୋଚନାରୁ ନୁହେଁ ।

ଆମ ଭାଷାର ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଆଉ ଭାଷା ଦିଓଟି ଯାକ ଅଙ୍ଗାଙ୍ଗୀ ଭାବେ ଜଡ଼ିତ । ଏ ଉଭୟ ପୁଣି ସମାଜ ଓ ଆମର ପରିବେଶ ଉପରେ ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇଥାନ୍ତି । କେବଳ ଗପ, କବିତା ଓ ଉପନ୍ୟାସ ନୁହେଁ, ଭାଷାର ଗବେଷଣା, ଲିପିର ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ଭାଷା ଯେଉଁ ଯେଉଁ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଯେଉଁ ଯେଉଁ ଭାବରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହୁଏ ସେ ସବୁର ସନ୍ତୁଳନ ନିତାନ୍ତ ଆବଶ୍ୟକ । ଅନେକ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ସଫ୍ଟୱାର ଓ ୱେବସାଇଟର ବାହାର ଆବରଣ ବା ଯାହାକୁ ଜଣେ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି କାମ କରେ, ତାହାର ଟେକନିକାଲ ଶବ୍ଦରାଜି "ଫ୍ରିକୁଏଣ୍ଟଲି ଇଉଜ୍‌ଡ ଏସେନସିଆଲ ଲାଙ୍ଗୁଏଜ (FUEL)" ନାମରେ ଜଣା । ଏହାର ମାନକ ଆଉ ପାଠ୍ୟପୁସ୍ତକରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହେଉଥିବା ଭାଷାର ମାନକ ଏକ ହେବା ନିହାତି ଜରୁରୀ । ସେହିଭଳି ଖବରକାଗଜ, ଟିଭି ଓ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଆଦି ସାଧାରଣ ଗଣମାଧ୍ୟମ ଯାହା ପ୍ରତି ନିମିଷରେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ପାଖରେ ପହଞ୍ଚୁଛି ତାହାର ଭାଷାରେ ତାଳମେଳ ରହୁନାହିଁ । ଏ ବାବଦରେ ସରକାରଙ୍କ ଶିକ୍ଷା ବିଭାଗ, ଶିକ୍ଷାବିଦ, ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବୟସ-ଜୀବିକା ବର୍ଗର ସାଧାରଣ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ, ଭାଷାବିଦ ଓ ବୈଷୟିକ ଗବେଷକମାନେ ଏକାଠି ମିଶି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଔପଚାରିକ ଓ ଅନୌପଚାରିକ ବ୍ୟବହାର ତଥା ଶବ୍ଦର ବନାନ ବାବଦରେ ଏକ ସୂଚନା ପୁସ୍ତିକା ତିଆରି କରିପାରିଲେ ତାହା ଉଭୟ ଶିକ୍ଷାନୁଷ୍ଠାନ ତଥା ଗଣମାଧ୍ୟମ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନମାନଙ୍କ ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ ଲାଗିବ । ଏହା କେବଳ ଯେ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶର ଧାରାକୁ ବଞ୍ଚାଇ ରଖିବ ନାହିଁ ବରଞ୍ଚ ଭାଷାର କାନ୍ଧରେ ଯେଉଁ କୁରାଢ଼ୀ ବାରମ୍ବାର ବାଜୁଛି ମିଡ଼ିଆଠାରୁ, ତାହା ସୁଧୁରୁଯିବ ।

ଶେଷରେ ଗୋଟେ ବିଷୟକୁ ଗଣ୍ଠି କରି ଧରିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । କେଇଜଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆଙ୍କ ଭାଷା ବିମୁଖତାକୁ ଆଧାର କରି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଜାତିକୁ କଙ୍କଡ଼ା କହିବାର ଅବସାନ ହେଉ । ନିଜ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଆଡ଼ ଆଖିରେ ଦେଖି କେଉଁ ଜାତି କେବେ ଉପରକୁ ଉଠିନାହିଁ କି ଉଠିବ ନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ଜଣେ ମୁଖ୍ୟମନ୍ତ୍ରୀର ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନ ଶିଖିବା ପାଇଁ ସଭାସମିତିରେ ଚିତ୍କାର ନ କରି ରାଜନୈତିକ ଦଳକୁ ଗୋଟିଏ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶ ପାଇଁ ନୂଆ ନୂଆ ଯୋଜନା ନ କରି ତା ଭିତରେ ବିଭେଦ ତିଆରି କରିବାର ବାଟ ତିଆରି ଉପରେ ସମାଲୋଚନା କଲେ, ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ନୂତନ ଆଶାର ସଂଚାର ହେବ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ବିଭବ ତାର କଥିତ ଭାଷାମାନ । ଅଞ୍ଚଳ ଭେଦରେ ଯଦି ଭାଷାର କଥନ ବଦଳୁଛି ତାହା ଏକ ଭାଷାର ବହୁମୁଖୀତାକୁ ଦେଖାଉ ନାହିଁ କି? ଯେଉଁ ଆଣ୍ଟରେ ଗୋପାଳ ପ୍ରହରାଜେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ସବୁ ଅଞ୍ଚଳର ଲୋକକଥିତ ଶବ୍ଦସମ୍ଭାରକୁ ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୋଷରେ ସାଇତିଥିଲେ ଯଦି ସେସବୁକୁ ଆମ ଖବରକାଗଜ, ଟିଭି, ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଆଦିରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରାଯାଆନ୍ତା, ଖାସ କରି ଅଯଥା ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଶବ୍ଦର ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ ରୋକି ଓଡ଼ିଶାବାସୀ ନିଜ ଅଞ୍ଚଳ ତଥା ବାକି ଅଞ୍ଚଳର ଲୋପ ପାଇଯାଉଥିବା ଅନେକ ଶବ୍ଦର ପରିଚିତି ଜାଣନ୍ତେ । ତେବେ ଭାଷା ସଭିଙ୍କର । ଯେମିତି ଆମ ଘରଲୋକଙ୍କୁ କିଏ ଗାଳିପଦେ ଦେଲେ ଆମ ହିଆକୁ ବାଧୁଛି, ହାତରୁ କଟୁରୀ ଖସୁଛି ସେମିତି ଆମ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଦରଦଟି ପିଲାଙ୍କ ମନରେ ରୋପିଲେ ଆମ ପର ପିଢ଼ି ଯେ ଆଉ ଏକ ଭାଷା ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ କରି ଜଗତର ବାକି ପାଞ୍ଚ ଭାଷା ଭିତରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଏକ ନ କରିବେ ତାହା କିଏ କହିବ? ଏ ଗୁରୁଦାୟୀତ୍ୱଟି ଅଭିଭାବକମାନଙ୍କର, ଆଉ ଆମ ସଭିଙ୍କର ।

ଲେଖକ ପରିଚିତି
ଶୁଭାଶିଷ ପାଣିଗ୍ରାହୀ ଜଣେ ଶିକ୍ଷାନୁସନ୍ଧାନୀ ଓ ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣ ଗବେଷକ । ସେ ଅଧୁନା ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରୁସ୍ଥିତ ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟିର ପ୍ରୋଗ୍ରାମ ଅଫିସର ଭାବେ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ଓ ବିକାଶ ଉପରେ କାର୍ଯ୍ୟରତ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ବହିର ଡିଜିଟାଲ ସଂସ୍କରଣ ରୂପ ନିମନ୍ତେ ସେ ଅଧୁନା ଆକସେସ ଟୁ ନଲେଜ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପରେ କଲେଜ ଓ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ ସ୍ତରରେ ଅଧ୍ୟାପକ ଓ ଛାତ୍ରମାନଙ୍କୁ ନେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଯୋଗେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ବିକାଶ ନିମନ୍ତେ କାର୍ଯ୍ୟ କରୁଛନ୍ତି ।ସେ ବହୁକାଳ ଧରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ମୋଜିଲା ଭଳି ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ ତଥା ଓପନଗ୍ଲାମ ଓ ଓପନ ଏଜୁକେସନ ଭଳି ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ସାଙ୍ଗଠନିକ ସମ୍ମିଳନୀର ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଆଲୋଚନାରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇଛନ୍ତି । ଭାଷା ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ବ୍ୟବହାର ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ତାଙ୍କ ରଚିତ ପ୍ରବନ୍ଧମାନ ଅନେକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଖବରକାଗଜ, ପତ୍ରପତ୍ରିକା ଓ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ବ୍ଲଗମାନଙ୍କରେ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/sambad-july-21-2014-paths-for-development-of-odia-language

Mozilla Brings Indian Communities Together

subha — 2014-07-23T07:30:06Z

I took part in two major events, Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and MozCamp Beta – India organized by Mozilla in India as a voluntary contributor. In this blog post I am sharing with you my experience of the events.

The article was published on the website of Opensource.com on July 13, 2014. It can be read here.

Mozilla organized two national events in India during the month of June this year: Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and Mozcamp Beta 2014.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was more of an implementation-based sprint with the goal to motivate Indic language localization teams to translate strings for its upcoming Firefox OS based $25 phone. Mozcamp India Beta was an event for meeting mentors, planning for the future, and strategizing Mozilla’s mission in India.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014

The Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was held at Red Hat’s Pune office, June 7 and 8, 2014. This was the first time 13 Indic language communities came under one roof to translate interface strings together, commented Mozilla Community Manager, Arky. During the two day sprint, most language groups (2 - 4 members strong) completed more than 40% of the localizations that will appear as interface strings for Firefox OS, an upcoming operating system for mobile and tablet devices. Mozilla released its developer test phones, starting with GeeksPhone Keon in April of last year, started thinking of the mobile users from the emerging nations leaving the west for Android, iOS, and Windows 8. Bringing cheaper phones to people with an interface in their own language could help to make phones smarter for common users. Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, Gujarati, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, and Urdu are the 13 language communities that took part in the event.


Photo by Subhashish Panigrahi (CC-BY-SA 3.0 License)

Mozcamp Beta 2014

The Mozcamp India beta event aimed to bring core contributors from multiple communities housed under the Mozilla umbrella and engage with them in a participatory and learning way. Staffers from Mozilla who are responsible for various projects and products worked with these contributors over three days (June 20 - 22) building strategies for best practices for recruiting new contributors, mentoring them, and sustaining the communities in a long run. The project page says, "MozCamp Beta is an experiment. This is the first time Mozilla is testing how to train contributors to bring in more contributors across the project."

Mozilla’s core product, the Firefox browser's expanding wing, Firefox OS, was the center of attention. Mozilla is working with two Indian brands, Spice and Intex, to produce phones that are expected to be around $25, thus revolutionizing the smartphone world. Some of the sessions during the event focused on breaking the notion that app making so technical that it can only be done by some. New projects like Mozilla's Appmaker give users the option to create a web app and flash it into the Firefox OS device without knowing any code. Similarly, a session covered the User Centered Design process, a new way for users to create an app by drawing it on paper and brainstorming on paper about useful functionalities.

These two events were a grand display of user contribution and what makes Mozilla a creativity-seeking organization. "Mozilla is committed to make the web free and fun. We aim to have the maximum number of Maker parties in India this year to promote web literacy and having students to create and curate Open Educational Resources," says Mozilla’s Global Strategist and Manager of the Webmaker mentor team, Michelle Thorne.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/mozilla-brings-indian-communities-together

Mozilla brings Indian Communities together Twice in One Month

subha — 2014-07-23T07:06:58Z

The guest post was published on Mozilla' website on July 8, 2014. It can be read here.

Mozilla, in the process of putting its best effort on people that make it, has organized two larger and national events in India: Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and MozCamp Beta – India. The first is being a more implementation based sprint with the goal to motivate Indic language localization teams to translate strings for its upcoming Firefox OS based $25 phone where the second one was an event for meeting mentors, planning for the future and strategizing Mozilla’s mission in India.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was held at Redhat’s Pune office during 7 – 8 June. This was the first time 13 Indic language communities came under one roof to translate interface strings together, says Mozilla’s Community Manager Arky. During the two day sprint most language communities with the strength of 2 – 4 members each completed more than 40% of the localizations that will appear as interface strings for Firefox OS, an upcoming operating system for mobiles and tablets. Mozilla, after releasing its developer test phones starting with GeeksPhone Keon in April last year also started thinking of the mobile users from the emerging nations leaving the west for Android, iOS and Windows 8. Bringing cheaper phones to people with an interface of their own language could help to make phones more smarter for common users. Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, Gujarati, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu are the 13 language communities that took part in the event.

The other event, MozCamp Beta – India was aimed to bring core contributors form the multiple communities housed under the Mozilla umbrella and engage with them in a participatory and learning mode. Staffers from Mozilla who are responsible for various projects and products together with these contributors spent three days (20 – 22 June) building strategies for best practices for recruiting new contributors, mentoring them and sustaining the communities in a long run. The project page says, “MozCamp Beta is an experiment. This is the first time Mozilla is testing how to train contributors to bring in more contributors across the project.” Mozilla’s core product Firefox browser’s expanding wing Firefox OS was the center of attention. Mozilla has tied up with two Indian brands Spice and Intex to produce these phones that are expected to be around $25 revolutionizing the smartphone world and breaking the stereotype of having smartphones in the hands of them who could afford them. Some of the sessions during the event were also aimed to break the notion of app making process being too technical. The newest web innovation Appmaker gives a user the option to create a web app and flash it into the Firefox OS device without even learning any coding. Similarly the User Centered Design process was helping users to go creating with creating their app by drawing them on papers and brainstorming about having useful functionalities in them. Three of the days ended with celebrating the success of the grand user contribution that makes Mozilla a creativity-seeking organization. “Mozilla is committed to make the web free and fun. We aim to have the maximum number of Maker parties in India this year to promote web literacy and having students to create and curate Open Educational Resources,” says Mozilla’s Global Strategist and Manager of Webmake mentor team Michelle Thorne.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/mozilla-brings-indian-communities-together-twice-in-one-month

Information & Communication Technology in Making a Healthy Information Society with special reference to use of ICTS in Educational Technology

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T09:06:20Z

The Department of Computer Science, Andhra Loyola College in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, Krishna University will be organizing a UGC-sponsored National Seminar on August 11 and 12, 2014 at Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada.

T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge from the Centre for Internet and Society will be giving a key note address at this event.

See the invitation below:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/information-communication-technology-in-making-a-healthy-information-society-with-special-reference-to-use-of-icts-in-educational-technology

150 Rare Books Get New Lease of Life Online, Courtesy Students

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T06:12:31Z

You might have heard about Samkshepa Vedartham by Clement Pianius, the first book printed in Malayalam but might not have got a chance to read it.

The article by Anila Backer was published in the New Indian Express on July 15, 2014. The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS-A2K) supported this Malayalam community event.

Now, you can read the book published in 1772 online through the Malayalam Wiki library (Wiki grandhasala). More than 150 such rare books have been digitised and uploaded by the school students across the state and a few members of the public as part of the digitisation contest jointly hosted by Malayalam Wikipedia community, IT@School, Kerala Sahitya Akademi , Centre for Internet and Society and Swathanthra Malayalam computing.

More than 1,000 students from 137 schools and 234 participants from the public uploaded more than 13,000 pages of rare books such as Hasthalakshana Deepika (1892) by Kadathanattu Udayavarma Thampuran, Madamahee Shashathakam Manipravalam (1908) by Kottaratil Shankunni, Malayazhmayude Vyakaranam (1863) by Rev George Mathan and Divan Shankunni Menon (1922) by C Achutha Menon as part of the competition held during January and February.

Besides, you can also acquire information on the social scenario during different time periods, like the matrilineal system of inheritance, ‘Marumakkathayam’ through the various volumes of old magazines digitised by the students. Magazines such as Mangalodayam and Rasikaranjini are also available in the wiki library. “Books that were not available in Malayalam and those existed only in the German and French libraries were digitised with the contest. The contest was organised to provide the public access to these rare collections,” says IT@School Wayanad district coordinator V J Thomas.

“It also allows one to search for a particular word or topic as well as to copy the content of the book for a research work or other purposes that cannot be done with a scanned copy of a book,” he adds.

“Moreover, it also aims at developing an interest among the students towards Malayalam computing and to make them effectively utilise the scope of Internet, besides improving their reading habit,” he added.

“It has also improved the typing speed of the students and they get familiar with the old fonts in the language also,” he added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/new-indian-express-july-15-2014-anila-backer-150-rare-books-get-new-lease-of-life-online-courtesy-students

Six Kannada encyclopaedias released

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T05:22:56Z

The first six online volumes of the University of Mysore's Kannada Encyclopaedia were launched on wikipedia's Creative Commons (CC) to mark the 'Muktha Jana Dina Dayu' (Dissemination of Knowledge) today.

Click to read the blog entry posted on Webindia 123 website on July 15, 2014.

Launching the works Vice-Chancellor Prof K S Rangappa said the project seeks to give new lease of life to encyclopaedia editions in Kannada. The repository of information shared on the internet will surely be a boon for many. With this, the works of great Kannada writers and experts will be accessible to all, he added.

The university will encourage more such works and make sure the remaining 14 volumes are launched soon, he said.

The Kannada encyclopaedia project was taken up by Dr U B Pavanaja, programme officer, centre for internet and society, and his colleague Tejas Jain, a software engineer. Mr Pavanja said the initiative will expand the reach of Kannada language across the world. Over a 1000 articles have been shared on creative commons, he added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/web-india-123-july-15-2014-six-kannada-encyclopaedias-released

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ kannada ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ : ಈಗ ಆನ್ ಲೈನ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ 6 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳು ಮುಕ್ತ…ಮುಕ್ತ…….

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T05:19:32Z

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯದ ಮೂರು ದಶಕಗಳ ಶ್ರಮದ ಫಲವಾಗಿರುವ ` ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ’ ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದೆ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲೇ ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿ ವೀಕ್ಷಿಸಬಹುದು. ಹೌದು, ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ಈ ಮಹತ್ವಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷಿ ಯೋಜನೆಯನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಈಗ ಆನ್ ಲೈನ್ ಮೂಲಕವು ಲಭಿಸುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿದೆ.

Read the original published in JustKannada website on July 15, 2014 here.

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯದ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮಂಗಳವಾರ ನಡೆದ ಸಮಾರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಲಪತಿ ಪ್ರೊ.ಕೆ.ಎಸ್.ರಂಗಪ್ಪ ಅವರು ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ಬಟನ್ ಒತ್ತುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡಿದರು.

ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್ನೆಟ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿ (ಸಿಐಎಸ್) ಸ್ವಯಂ ಸೇವಾ ಸಂಘಟನೆ ಮುಕ್ತ ಪರವಾನಗಿಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಮೊದಲ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಒದಗಿಸಲಿದೆ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ತಜ್ಞ ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ಸಹ ಸಾಥ್ ನೀಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಈ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಪ್ರೊ.ಕೆ.ಎಸ್.ರಂಗಪ್ಪ, 1978-1980ರಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನು ಪಿಎಚ್ಡಿ ಮಾಡುವ ವೇಳೆ ಐಐಎಸ್ಸಿ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಸೀಮಿತ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಈಗಿನದ್ದು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಯುಗ. ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಬೆರಳ ತುದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪಡೆಯುವ ಅವಕಾಶಗಳು ಲಭ್ಯವಿವೆ. ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಜ್ಞಾನವೂ ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗಲಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ಸದಾಶಯ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಗುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಒಪಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ವಿವಿ ಶತಮಾನೋತ್ಸವದ ಹೊಸ್ತಿಲಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಇದರ ನೆನಪಿಗಾಗಿ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಹಾಗೂ ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾ ಮೂಲಕ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದರಿಂದ ನಮ್ಮ ಹಿರಿಮೆಯೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಲಿದೆ. ಇದರಿಂದ ವಿವಿಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಹೊರೆಯಾಗದು. . ಬದಲಿಗೆ ಓದುಗರ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿ. ವಿವಿ ಗೌರವವೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ನುಡಿದರು

ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಮೊದಲ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಆನ್ ಲೈನ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಪಡೆಯಲು ಅನುಮತಿ ನೀಡಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಉಳಿಕೆ ಸಂಪುಟ ಹಾಗೂ ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳವಡಿಸಲು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯದ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಚರ್ಚಿಸಿ ಅನುಮತಿ ಕೊಡುತ್ತೇವೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಯುಬಿ ಪವನಜ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ` ` ಭಾರತದ ಯಾವುದೇ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಗದಷ್ಟು ಕೆಲಸ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಆ ಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ ಇರಿಸಿದರೆ ಕೆಲವರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಿಗಬಹುದು. ಅದನ್ನೇ ಇಂಟರ್ ನೆಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಪುನರ್ ನವೀಕರಣಗೊಳಿಸಿದರೆ ಅದರ ಮೌಲ್ಯವೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಲಿದೆ. ಜನರಿಗೂ ಉಪಯೋಗವಾಗಲಿದೆ. ಈಗ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಷಯಗಳ ಭಾಷೆಯೂ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನವೇ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಪಠ್ಯವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಯಾವ ವಿಷಯವೂ ಇಂಟರ್ ನೆಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಭಾಷೆ ಉಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆಯೇ ಎನ್ನುವ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಸದಾ ಇದ್ದೇ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ. ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಮಿಳಿತವಾದರೆ ಅದು ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲೂ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯಲಿದೆ. ಅಂಥ ಕೆಲಸ ಈಗ ಸದ್ದಿಲ್ಲದೇ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂದರು.

ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಆರ್.ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ, ಪ್ರಾಸ್ತಾವಿಕವಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ,. ಶತಮಾನದ ಆರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಸ್.ಜೆ.ನರಸಿಂಹಾಚಾರ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ರೂಪಿಸುವುದನ್ನು ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಕುವೆಂಪು ಅವರು ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಕುಲಪತಿಯಾದಾಗ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ರೊರೆಯಿತು. ಬಳಿಕ ದೇಜಗೌ ಕುಲಪತಿಯಾಗಿ ಬರುತ್ತಲೇ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಶಕ್ತಿ ತುಂಬಿದರು. ಅದೂ ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆಯೂ ಆಯಿತು. ಜೆ.ಶಶಿಧರಪ್ರಸಾದ್ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಡಿ ರೂಪವನ್ನು ಪಡೆಯಿತು. ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ವಿದ್ವಾಂಸರು ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ರೂಪಿಸುವ ಹಿಂದೆ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ಬೇರೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲೂ 14 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಈಗ ಸಿಡಿ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯ. ಮುಂದುವರೆದ ಭಾಗವಾಗಿ ಮುಕ್ತ ಪರವಾನಿಗೆಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವುದು ವಿವಿ ಹಿರಿಮೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಿದೆ. ಜತೆಗೆ 30 ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ 5 ಪೂರ್ಣಗೊಂಡಿವೆ. ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳು ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿವೆ.` ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದರು.

ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್ನೆಟ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿಯ(ಸಿಐಎಸ್) ತೇಜಸ್ ಜೈನ್ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಸೇರಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಹಾಕಿದರೆ ಇದರಿಂದ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ವ್ಯಾಪಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಧಕ್ಕೆಯಾಗಬಹುದು ಎನ್ನುವ ಆತಂಕ ಬಹುತೇಕರಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಇಂಥ ಅನುಮಾನ ಬೇಡ. ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುವವರು ಇದ್ದೇ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದ ಲಭ್ಯತೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಓದುಗರನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಇಂಥ ಸವಾಲುಗಳನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸಿ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅಪ್ಡೇಟ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂದು ವಿವರಿಸಿದರು.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/just-kannada-july-15-2014-wikipedia-kannada-vishwakosha-mysore-university-free-internet-kannada-department

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T05:11:41Z

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ್ತೂಂದು ಹಿರಿಮೆಯ ಗರಿ

Read the original published in Udayavani on July 15, 2014 here.

ಶತಮಾನದ ಹೊಸ್ತಿಲಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ್ತೂಂದು ಹಿರಿಮೆಯ ಗರಿ ಮೂಡಿದೆ. ದೇಶದಲ್ಲೇ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಮೂರು ದಶಕಗಳಷ್ಟು ಹಳೆಯದಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಸಮರ್ಪಣೆ ಮಾಡಿದೆ.

ಪಾರಂಪರಿಕ ವಿವಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದಾದ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯವು ಹಲವಾರು ವಿದ್ವಾಂಸರ ಅವಿರತ ಶ್ರಮದಿಂದ ರೂಪುಗೊಂಡಿರುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುವಲ್ಲಿ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಮೊದಲ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂರು ದಶಕಗಳಷ್ಟು ಹಳೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್‌ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್‌ ಪರವಾನಗಿಯಡಿ ಗಣಕೀರಣಗೊಳಿಸಿ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೊಳಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆ ಯೋಜಯಾದ ಚಿಜಿಠಿ.ly/ಞysಟ್ಟಛಿunಜಿಡಿಟ ಅನ್ನು ಮಂಗಳವಾರ ಮಾನಸಗಂಗೋತ್ರಿಯ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ಬಿಎಂಶ್ರೀ ಭವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಕುಲಪತಿ ಪ್ರೊ .ಕೆ.ಎಸ್‌. ರಂಗಪ್ಪ ಲೋಕಾರ್ಪಣೆ ಮಾಡಿದರು.

ಈಡೇರಿದ ಯೋಜನೆ: ಬಳಿಕ ಅವರು ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ಕಷ್ಟವಾದ ಪ್ರೌಢ ಪ್ರಬಂಧಗಳಿದ್ದು ಅವುಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ಜನರಿಗೆ ತಲುಪಬೇಕೆಂಬ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಲಾಷೆಗೆ ಪೂರಕವಾಗಿ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆ ಈಡೇರಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 14 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳಿದ್ದು ಈಗ 6 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೊಳಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 30 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳಿದ್ದು 5 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾರ್ಪಡಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಯಾರೂ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡಬಹುದು: ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಪರಿವರ್ತನಾ ಯೋಜನೆಯ ರೂವಾರಿ ಡಾ. ಯು.ಬಿ. ಪವನಜ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ವಿಕಿಫೀಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ 287 ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಅಳವಡಿಕೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ಇವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾರತದ 20 ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಸ್ಥಾನ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಂಡಿವೆ. ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ, ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ವಿವಿ ಎಂದೆ ಕರೆಯುವ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರು ಬೇಕಾದರೂ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ತುಂಬಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ, ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್‌ ಆಕ್ಟ್‌ನಡಿ ಬರುವ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವಂತಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿಯೇ ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್‌ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್‌ ಪರವಾನಗಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದ್ದು, ಇದರ ಸಹಾಯದಿಂದ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಒದಗಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂದರು.

ಇದೇ ವೇಳೆ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಲು ಶ್ರಮಿಸಿದ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಕ್ರೈಸ್ತ ವಿವಿಯ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಾದ ಕೋಮಲ್‌, ಗೀತಾ, ಗೌತಮ್‌, ಪ್ರತಾಪ್‌, ಭರತ್‌, ಸ್ಮಿತಾ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿ ಗೌರವಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಪ್ರೊ. ಆರ್‌. ರಾಮಕಷ್ಣ, ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಯೋಜನೆ, ಉಸ್ತುವಾರಿ ಮತ್ತು ಮೌಲ್ಯಮಾಪನ ಮಂಡಳಿಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಪ್ರೊ. ಎಸ್‌. ರವಿ, ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್‌ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್‌ನ ತೇಜಸ್‌ ಜೈನ್‌ ಇತರರಿದ್ದರು.

14ರಲ್ಲಿ 6 ಸಂಪುಟ ಸಮರ್ಪಣೆ

ಎನ್‌ಸೈಕ್ಲೋಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಬ್ರಿಟಾನಿಕ್‌ ಮಾದರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ 1954ರಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ರಚಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. 1968ರ ವರೆಗೆ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆಯು ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸಂಸ್ಕತಿ ಅಭಿವದ್ಧಿ ಇಲಾಖೆಯ ಅಧೀನದಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು. ನಾಡೋಜ ಡಾ.ದೇಜವರೇಗೌಡ ಅವರು ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ಕುಲಪತಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆಯನ್ನು ವಿವಿಯ ವಶಕ್ಕೆ ವಹಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಒಟ್ಟು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 14 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊರತರಲಾಗಿದ್ದು, 30 ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳಿವೆ. ಇದೀಗ ಅವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ 6 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಸಮರ್ಪಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/udayavani-july-15-2014-mysore-university-event-coverage-in-udayavani

ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ

praskrishna — 2014-07-16T11:14:16Z

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯವು ಇದೀಗ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲೂ ಹೆಸರು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಹಲವಾರು ವಿದ್ವಾಂಸರ ಅವಿರತ ಶ್ರಮದಿಂದ ರೂಪುಗೊಂಡಿರುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುವಲ್ಲಿ ವಿವಿ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿದೆ.

The article was published in Kannada Prabha on July 15, 2014.

ಮೊದಲ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂರು ದಶಕಗಳಷ್ಟು ಹಳೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಪರವಾನಗಿಯಡಿ ಗಣಕೀರಣಗೊಳಿಸಿ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೊಳಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆ ಯೋಜನೆಯಾದ ಡಿಡಿಠಣಣಛ್ಝಿಡಿ.ಟಣಣಟಣಡ್ಟ್ಠಜ್ಡಟ್ಝಿಢಿಠ ಅನ್ನು ಮಂಗಳವಾರ ಮಾನಸಗಂಗೋತ್ರಿಯ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ಬಿ.ಎಂ.ಶ್ರೀ ಭವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿ ಕುಲಪತಿ ಪ್ರೊ.ಕೆ.ಎಸ್. ರಂಗಪ್ಪ ಲೋಕಾರ್ಪಣೆ ಮಾಡಿದರು. ನಂತರ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಅವರು, ಇತ್ತೀಚಿನ ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ವೇಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿದೆ. ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ಕೃಷ್ಟವಾದ ಪ್ರೌಢ ಪ್ರಬಂಧಗಳಿದ್ದು ಅವುಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ಜನರಿಗೆ ತಲುಪಬೇಕೆಂಬ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಲಾಷೆಗೆ ಪೂರಕವಾಗಿ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆ ಈಡೇರಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 14 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳಿದ್ದು, ಈಗ 6 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಮಾರ್ಪಟ್ಟಾಗಿವೆ. ಇನ್ನುಳಿದ ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾರ್ಪಾಟುಗೊಳಿಸಲಾಗುವುದು. ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 30 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳಿದ್ದು 5 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾರ್ಪಟಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಬೆರಳ ತುದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇಕಾದ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗಬೇಕೆಂಬುದು ವಿವಿಯ ಉದ್ದೇಶವಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದರು.

ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಪರಿವರ್ತನಾ ಯೋಜನೆಯ ರೂವಾರಿ ಯು.ಬಿ. ಪವನಜ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಉಳಿಯಬೇಕೆಂದರೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಬಳಸಬೇಕು. ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದಿನ ಪೀಳಿಗೆ ಬಳಸಿ, ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಓದೋಕೆ ಪಠ್ಯಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳಿವೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಬೇಕಾದ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ನೀಡಬೇಕೆಂದರೆ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ನೆಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಈಗ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಮಾರ್ಪಡಿಸಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಅನುಕೂಲವಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದರು.

ಮಾಹಿತಿ ತುಂಬಬಹುದು: ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕಣಜ ಎನಿಸಿರುವ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ 287 ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಅಳವಡಿಕೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಭಾರತದ 20 ಭಾಷೆಗಳಿವೆ. ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ, ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ವಿವಿ ಎಂದೆ ಕರೆಯುವ ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರು ಬೇಕಾದರು ಮಾಹಿತಿ ತುಂಬಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ, ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್‌ನಡಿ ಬರುವ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವಂತಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿಯೇ ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಪರಾವನಗಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದ್ದು, ಇದರ ಸಹಾಯದಿಂದ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಒದಗಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂದರು.

ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿ ಗೌರವ: ಇದೇ ವೇಳೆ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಾಗೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಲು ಶ್ರಮಿಸಿದ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಕ್ರೈಸ್ತ ವಿವಿಯ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಾದ ಕೋಮಲ್, ಗೀತಾ, ಗೌತಮ್, ಪ್ರತಾಪ್, ಭರತ್, ಸ್ಮಿತಾ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿ ಗೌರವಿಸಲಾಯಿತು.

ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಪ್ರೊ.ಆರ್. ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಅವರು ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಮೈವಿವಿ ಯೋಜನೆ, ಉಸ್ತುವಾರಿ ಮತ್ತು ಮೌಲ್ಯಮಾಪನ ಮಂಡಳಿಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಪ್ರೊ.ಎಸ್. ರವಿ, ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವಿ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್‌ನ ತೇಜಸ್ ಜೈನ್ ಇದ್ದರು.

ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್ ಬಳಸಿ

ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಮಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಇದ್ದರು ಸಹ ಹಂಚಲು ಮುಂದಾದಾಗ ಕಾಡುವ ಕಾಪಿರೈಟ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್ ಭೂತದಂತೆ ಕಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದರಿಂದ ಹೊರ ಬರಲು ಇರುವ ಪರ್ಯಾಯ ಉಪಾಯವೇ ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್. ಇದನ್ನು ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರೂ ಬಳಸಬಹುದಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ತೇಜಸ್ ಜೈನ್ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಪಟ್ಟರು. ಜ್ಞಾನ ಯಾರ ಸ್ವತ್ತೂ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಅದೊಂದು ಮುಕ್ತ ಹಾಗೂ ಸುಲಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಸಿಗುವಂತಾಗಬೇಕು. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ವೇದಿಕೆಯೊದಗಿಸಿಕೊಡುವ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಪರವಾನಗಿ ಎಂಬ ಕೊಂಕು ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇದರ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಎಬೆನ್ ಮೊಗ್ಲೆನ್ ಎಂಬವರು ಚಳವಳಿ ನಡೆಸಿ ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್ ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನು ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಾಕಿದರು. ಇದರಡಿ ಯಾರ ಬೇಕಾದರು ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಬಳಸಬಹುದು ಎಂದರು.

ಏನಿದು ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ?

ಜ್ಞಾನದ ವಿವಿಧ ಶಾಖೆಗಳ ವಿವೇಚನೆಯುಳ್ಳ, ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಬಿಡಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಅಕರಾದಿಯಾಗಿ ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಭಂಡಾರವೇ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ. ಎನ್‌ಸೈಕ್ಲೋಪಿಡಿಯಾ ಬ್ರಿಟಾನಿಕ ಮಾದರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ 1954 ರಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ರಚಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. 1968 ರವರೆಗ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆಯು ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಇಲಾಖೆಯ ಅಧೀನದಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು. ನಾಡೋಜ ಡಾ. ದೇಜಗೌ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ಕುಲಪತಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದಾಗ ಯೋಜನೆಯನ್ನು ವಿವಿಯ ವಶಕ್ಕೆ ವಹಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಒಟ್ಟು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ 14 ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊರತರಲಾಗಿದ್ದು, 30 ವಿಷಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳಿವೆ.

ಇದನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವವರ ಗಮನಕ್ಕೆ

ಯಾವುದೇ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಪಡೆದರು ಸಹ ಅದರ ಕರ್ತೃವಿನ ಹೆಸರನ್ನು ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸುವುದು
ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಅಥವಾ ಹಾಗೆ ವಿತರಿಸಬಹುದೇ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕು
ಕೆಲವು ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಬದಲಾಯಿಸುವ ಅಥವಾ ಪುನರಾವರ್ತಿಸುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭ ಬಂದಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್‌ನಡಿ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು

ಬಳಸುವಾಗ ಎದುರಾಗುವ ಸವಾಲುಗಳು

ಇಷ್ಟುದಿನ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ದಾಖಲಿಸಿ ವ್ಯಾಪಾರ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದವರಿಗೆ ಆತಂಕ ಕಾಡಬಹುದು
ತಮ್ಮ ಬೌದ್ಧಿಕ ಸ್ವಾಮ್ಯತೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೆ ಎಂಬ ಭಯ ಕಾಡಲಿದೆ
ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಸಬೇಕಾದಾಗ ಗಣಕೀಕರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಒಪ್ಪುವ ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವುದು
ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲವನ್ನು ಬಳಸುವುದರಿಂದ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯಗಳ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಬೇಕೆ ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕಾಡಲಿದೆ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-prabha-july-15-2014-coverage-of-open-knowledge-day

Soon, all 14 volumes of Kannada encyclopaedia to be online

praskrishna — 2014-07-16T11:06:56Z

Four volumes have been uploaded so far on a pilot basis.

The article by R.Krishna Kumar was published in the Hindu on July 15, 2014. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja gave his inputs.

All 14 volumes of the Kannada Vishwakosha published by the University of Mysore along with five volumes of subject encyclopaedia — also published in Kannada by the varsity — may soon be available on the internet.

This will not only enrich Kannada content on the Internet, but will give the multi-volume publications that are available only in a few libraries and research institutions a new lease of life.

While four volumes of the Vishwakosha published by the Prasaranga wing of the varsity have already been uploaded on Wikisource, talks are on to upload other volumes along with the subject encyclopaedias.

“We are in discussion with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore, in this regard and may soon decide on making the other volumes available on the Internet through Creative Commons (CC) licence to coincide with the centenary of the university in 2016,” said K.S. Rangappa, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore.

Speaking at the Open Knowledge Day organised in collaboration with the CIS here on Tuesday, Prof. Rangappa said four volumes of the Vishwakosha have been uploaded as part of a pilot project. “This has helped people access the contents and hence its popularity has grown,” he said.

The university is in talks with the authors and editors concerned at Prasaranga to take the project forward and was also considering digitising the subject encyclopaedia and migrate them to the CC licence platform for public sharing, he added.

The CIS and the varsity signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to re-release the first six volumes of the Vishwakosha under the CC licence, of which four volumes have been released, and the Open Knowledge Day was organised to mark the occasion. The CIS said it also coincided with the Open Knowledge Festival being held in Berlin (July 15 to 17).

U.B. Pavanaja of the CIS said it was imperative to make the latest developments in the world available in Kannada so that people can keep themselves updated. “But for books prescribed in the syllabus, there is not much available on the Internet in Kannada and this project will help bridge the gap,” he said.

Students of Christ University, Bangalore, who worked to upload the Vishwakosha, were felicitated on the occasion.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-15-2014-r-krishna-kumar-soon-all-14-volumes-of-kannada-encyclopaedia-to-be-online

The Fifth Elephant in Bangalore

praskrishna — 2014-07-16T11:02:15Z

HasGeek is organizing the Fifth Elephant in Bangalore at NIMHANS Convention Centre on July 25 and 26, 2014. The Centre for Internet and Society is a community outreach partner with HasGeek.

Facebook has 100 million users in India. You know who has a billion?

The Indian Census.

Varsha Joshi, Director of the National Population Register, was present at The Fifth Elephant 2013 to explain on how the census team collects and processes such a vast amount of data.

Each year, The Fifth Elephant conference brings consumers and producers of technology to understand how data is processed (via available technologies), insights mined from datasets in different domains, and opportunities that data presents for economy and society. The key differentiator of The Fifth Elephant conference is that the content is crowdsourced and carefully curated by a panel of experts.

HasGeek, organizer of The Fifth Elephant, also shares a strong commitment to open access, open knowledge and open data. We ensure that every edition of The Fifth Elephant has representatives from the government –– either officials themselves or technology teams working on important data projects –– addressing citizens’ concerns around privacy and protection of data.

In 2012, we had Pramod Varma and Regunath B. speaking about the Aadhar project alongside Lucy Chambers’ presentation on the OKF’s work with data journalism, Nikhil Pahwa’s on RTI and Sumandro’s on NSSO data.

In 2013, Varsha Joshi talked to participants about the challenges that the census faces in collating data.
This year, we have invited Mr. Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), to talk about the state of government data and how citizens can participate in strengthening government’s efforts.

Why should you attend The Fifth Elephant?
The Fifth Elephant is a relevant event for data geeks and enthusiasts, NGOs, journalists and members of advocacy groups not just from the immediate standpoint of open data. This year’s edition also brings talks from finance and healthcare where speakers will talk about the challenges of working with complex financial datasets, data security and privacy concerns in the field of genomics, and related concerns. S. Anand will speak about what it took – in terms of technology infrastructure and data visualization – to do real-time visualizations for the recently concluded Indian elections. Participants will also get a flavour of frameworks – Lambda, Julia,OSM – and how these are used for building tools and platforms for mining data.

We welcome you to participate in the discussions and enrich interactions at the conference.

Schedule: https://fifthelephant.in/2014/conference
Registrations: http://fifthelephant.doattend.com
For more information, write to support@hasgeek.com

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-fifth-elephant

Open Access: Students help revive and digitize rare books for Malayalam Wiki Library

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T08:50:07Z

The blog post that quotes Centre for Internet and Society was published in SPICY IP on July 15, 2014.

The New Indian Express reports that in a terrific effort, more than 1000 school students and 234 members of the public across the state of Kerala digitized, proof-read and uploaded more than 150 rare and out-of-copyright Malayalam books as part of a digitization contest organized to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Wiki Source project by the Centre for Internet and Society, the state government run IT@School project, Swanthanthra Malayalam Computing and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi online library.

While these rare books were already in the public domain, the importance of preserving them in an accessible format cannot be emphasised enough. Books published as early as 1772 are now available on Wiki Grandhasala, the Malayalam wiki library to which these digitized copies have been uploaded. As they have been digitized rather than simply scanned, one can also search through them for keywords/phrases. If I’m not mistaken, OCR solutions for Indian languages either do not exist or are not of reliable quality. This would mean that much of the over 13,000 pages were typed out! I understand that these articles will also be used to cross reference wikipedia articles as well.

A big round of applause to all the involved parties for organizing and participating in this great effort at preserving as well as making accessible local literature and culture, that could otherwise be at a risk of getting lost amongst unhelpful copyright laws and/or tarnished or lost physical copies amongst other risks.

(I’m not sure if these overlap but as we reported here, there also seems to be the Kerala State Central Library that makes rare books available as well).

Can this effort be replicated in other states? I know the Panjab Digital Library is another resource that looks to do something similar. Their mission statement includes: to locate, digitize, preserve, collect and make accessible the accumulated wisdom of the Panjab region, without distinction as to script, language, religion, nationality, or other physical condition. There is also the Digital Library of India, hosted by IISC Bangalore, which states that they are trying to digitize all the significant works of mankind! If our readers know of other such databases, please do let us know in the comments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/spicy-ip-swaraj-paul-barooah-july-15-2014-open-access-students-help-revive-and-digitize-rare-books-for-malayalam-wiki-library

‘ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ’ಕ್ಕೆ ಇನ್ನು ಲೈಸೆನ್ಸ್ ಹಂಗಿಲ್ಲ

praskrishna — 2014-07-14T07:55:12Z

ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ ಇದೇ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ತನ್ನ ಮೂರು ದಶಕಗಳಷ್ಟು ಹಳೆಯ ‘ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ’ದ ಮೊದಲ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ‘ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್’ನಡಿ (ಮುಕ್ತ ಪರವಾನಗಿ) ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಲಿದೆ

Click to read the original published in Prajavani on July 14, 2014 here.

ಇದಕ್ಕೆಂದೇ ಕಳೆದ ಫೆಬ್ರುವರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯವು ಸಿಐಎಸ್‌ (ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಂಟ್‌ ಅಂಡ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿ) ನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಂದ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದು, ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶದ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳು ಇದೀಗ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ಓದುಗರಿಗೆ ಲಭ್ಯವಾಗುತ್ತಿವೆ.

ಇದೇ ರೀತಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯವು ಕೂಡ ತನ್ನ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳನ್ನು ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆಂದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಸಮೂಹವು ಕೋರಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ವಿ.ವಿ ಇನ್ನೂ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ಸೂಚಿಸಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲ ವಿ.ವಿ., ಅಕಾಡೆಮಿ, ಪರಿಷತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಪರಿಷತ್ತುಗಳು ತಯಾರಿಸಿದ ಮತ್ತು ಸರಕಾರದಿಂದ ಅನುದಾನ ಪಡೆದು ತಯಾರಾದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಪರವಾನಗಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದು ಬಹುತೇಕರ ಒತ್ತಾಯವಾಗಿದೆ.

ಜುಲೈ 15ರಂದು ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ‘ಮುಕ್ತ ಜ್ಞಾನ ದಿನಾಚರಣೆ’ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಲಪತಿ ಡಾ.ಕೆ.ಎಸ್. ರಂಗಪ್ಪ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಲೋಕಾರ್ಪಣೆ ಮಾಡುವರು.

ಏನಿದು ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸೆನ್ಸ್?: ಜ್ಞಾನ ಯಾರ ಸ್ವತ್ತೂ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಅದೊಂದು ಮುಕ್ತ ಹಾಗೂ ಸುಲಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ದಕ್ಕುವಂಥದ್ದಾಗಿರಬೇಕು. ಇದಕ್ಕೆಂದೇ ಅವತಾರವೆತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ‘ಲೈಸೆನ್ಸ್’ ಎಂಬ ಯಮಪಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿ ನರಳುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಎಬೆನ್ ಮೊಗ್ಲೆನ್ ಎಂಬುವರು ‘ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಲೈಸೆನ್ಸ್’ ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ಚಳವಳಿಯನ್ನೇ ಜಾಗತಿಕವಾಗಿ ಹುಟ್ಟು ಹಾಕಿದ್ದು, ಲೈಸೆನ್ಸ್ ಎಂಬ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನೇ ತೊಡೆದುಹಾಕಲು ಶ್ರಮಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಇದರಡಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ ಇದೇ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗೆ ತನ್ನ ಆರು ಸಂಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಶಿಷ್ಟತೆಯಾದ ಯೂನಿಕೋಡ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಕ್ತಗೊಳಿಸಲಿದೆ.

ಏನಿದು ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ?: ದೃಶ್ಯ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳ ಹಾವಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶಗಳು ಎಂದರೆ ಏನು ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುವ ಯುವಜನರೂ ನಮ್ಮ ನಡುವೆ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ದೂಳು ತಿನ್ನುತ್ತಾ ಎತ್ತರದ ಕಪಾಟುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂದಿಗೂ ಇವುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾಣಬಹುದು. ಜ್ಞಾನದ ವಿವಿಧ ಶಾಖೆಗಳ ವಿವೇಚನೆಯುಳ್ಳ, ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಬಿಡಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಅಕರಾದಿಯಾಗಿ ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಭಂಡಾರವೇ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ.

ಭರತನ ನಾಟ್ಯಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ ಬಹುಶಃ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಮೊದಲ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ. ನಿಜಗುಣ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಯ ವಿವೇಕ ಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಮೊದಲ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಎನಿಸಿದೆ. ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್‌ನ ಬ್ರಿಟಾನಿಕಾ ಎನ್‌ಸೈಕ್ಲೋಪೀಡಿಯಾ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಜಗತ್ತಿನಾದ್ಯಂತ ಹೆಸರುವಾಸಿಯಾಗಿದೆ. 1768–-1771ರ ನಡುವೆ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಕಟವಾದ ಅದು ವಿಶ್ವದ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಹಳೆಯ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಕೂಡ ಹೌದು. 1931ರಲ್ಲಿ ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತರು ‘ಬಾಲಪ್ರಪಂಚ’ ಕೋಶವನ್ನು ರಚಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಎನ್‌ಸೈಕ್ಲೋಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಬ್ರಿಟಾನಿಕ ಮಾದರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ರಚಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ1954ರಲ್ಲಿ ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು.

ಕುವೆಂಪು ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯು ಯೋಜನೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಪಡಿಸಿ, ಸರ್ಕಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿತು. 1954ರಿಂದ 1968ರವರೆಗೆ ಈ ಯೋಜನೆ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಇಲಾಖೆಯ ಅಧೀನದಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು. ದೇಜಗೌ ಅವರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾಗಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅಂದಿನ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ ವೀರೇಂದ್ರ ಪಾಟೀಲ, ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಸಚಿವ ಕೆ.ವಿ.ಶಂಕರಗೌಡ ಹಾಗೂ ಹಣಕಾಸು ಸಚಿವ ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಹೆಗಡೆ ಅವರ ಮೂಲಕ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿವಿಯ ಶಾಶ್ವತ ಯೋಜನೆಯಾಗಿ ನೆಲೆಗೊಳ್ಳುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿದರು.

ಪ್ರೊ.ದೇಜಗೌ ಅವರ ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನ, ಪ್ರೊ.ಹಾ.ಮಾ. ನಾಯಕ ಅವರ ಸಾರಥ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಂಡಿತು. ಇದೀಗ ಇದನ್ನು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ಹಂಚಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ.ಕೆಲವು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ಕೊಂಡಿಗಳು ಹೀಗಿವೆ, ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿ.ವಿ.

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ವಿಕಿಸೋರ್ಸ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿ.ವಿ. ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಲೇಖನಗಳು - http://bit.ly/mysoreuniv

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-july-14-2014-four-volumes-of-kannada-encyclopaedia-digitised

Four volumes of Kannada Encyclopaedia digitised

praskrishna — 2014-07-14T05:49:48Z

The content is available online under Creative Commons License.

The article by R. Krishna Kumar was published in the Hindu on July 12, 2014, Dr. U.B.Pavanaja is quoted.

Articles from the Kannada Encyclopaedia (Kannada Vishwakosha) of the University of Mysore can now be accessed online under the Creative Commons License. The move to make content of the Kannada Vishwakosha accessible is part of the ongoing effort to enrich Kannada content on Internet.

The University of Mysore is working with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) to digitise encyclopaedic publications for which the copyrights are owned by the varsity, and to re-release them under the Creative Common License.

U.B. Pavanaja of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, who is promoting Kannada content on the Internet, told The Hindu that of the 14 volumes, digitised content of the first four volumes has been uploaded.

And, the CIS is awaiting the release of the revised edition of the other two volumes. “Each volume has about 900 pages and hence over 3,600 pages of the Kannada Vishwakosha can now be accessed. What is significant is that people seeking quality information in Kannada can now access reliable content. It is also subject to editing in real time and hence will remain updated,” according to Mr. Pavanaja. The content was digitised and uploaded with the help of students who were interning with the CIS and included three boys and five girls, said Mr. Pavanaja.

The permission for digitising the content has been accorded for the first six volumes. However, the CIS has sought permission from the varsity for digitising the content of the other volumes, including Subject Encyclopaedia.

The Centre for Internet and Society signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Mysore in February. The varsity issued a certificate to publish the work under the Creative Common License in May.

As per the plan, the digitised content will be made available for everyone through free content distribution platforms like Wikipedia, Wikisource and this is expected to enhance digital literacy in Kannada language while helping in free dissemination of knowledge in Kannada to students, academics, researchers and the general public. As of now, the articles have been uploaded on Wikisource and will shortly be migrated to Wikipedia also.

Besides, the CIS is trying to hold talks with Kannada University, Hampi, on digitising the Janapada Vishwakosha and make it available under the Creative Common License, said Mr. Pavanaja.

Niranjan Vanalli, Director of EMMRC of the University of Mysore, said digitisation of Kannada Vishwakosha has given a new lease of life to publications. “The 14-volume Kannada Vishwakosha was not available to everyone earlier and was confined to research institutions or libraries. But now that the content is available online, it is accessible to all those who are interested. And, what it is more is that most articles, especially those pertaining to history, art and culture, will be of reference quality and that will act as a major boost to the cause of Kannada language,” he added.

Meanwhile, the University of Mysore and CIS will celebrate World Open Knowledge Festival on July 15 at the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies from 11 a.m. to commemorate the event.

Those interested to access the Kannada Vishwakosha online can log on to: http://bit.ly/mysoreuniv

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-12-2014-r-krishna-kumar-four-volumes-of-kannada-encyclopaedia-digitised